20/11/2010:
-Added new icons, country flags, addon icon
-Changed background image (Taken straight from xbmc subtitles addon)
-Audio call place/receive, much more stable now but still needs some work
-Filled details window with the details of selected user (homepage/about/telephones etc.)

Original post
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I just commited the initial version which is only for the brave, it is missing most of the features, it does some pretty stupid stuff, it might crash etc etc etc

But hey, it works (sort of)

To use it you have to compile xbmc from the svn and enable external python, (which I has to be at least 2.6, haven't tested later versions) as well as install Skype4py.When you install Skype4py you have to find the file posix.py, which at least in ubuntu is in /usr/local/lib/python2.6/dist-packages/Skype4Py/api and change the line

After that, install skype for linux (I used apt-get from the ubuntu repo), sign in and the first time you run the addon, accept the plugin connection from the addon to skype. That's it (I think)....

I don't know if it is possible to work with dbus, but right now it is causing me problems and I am too bored to fix it. I am also interested if anyone want to try making this work in windows as I have only tried in linux x64, I don't know if it is even possible.

Anyone who wants to contribute, first of all I need ideas, so brainstorm all you like about the look and feel of the addon. If anyone knows how to make pretty backgrounds/icons and stuff like that would be useful. Code wise, you are also welcome to make any suggestions

Disclaimer: I am a C/C++ coder so I don't know how my python coding looks, I'm sorry if it is not according to python coding style

And last but not least, many thanks to the author if the Gmail Checker plugin as I used (aka stolen) his code as a base for my addon!

I currently store it at $HOME/.xbmc/addons/script.skype/
Keep in mind that it is developed for dharma (specifically current SVN) so it might have some problems with that. Also check if the python path is correct, as a last resort you can manually add some paths on default.py.

you are using python 2.4, I don't know if it is possible to run it under 2.4. I had a lot of problems with it even with the the hacks I have mentioned on the other thread. It's best to use external python and use at least 2.6 although I think it might work with 2.5

This plugin is not intended to be run on python 2.4. If you want to run in on python 2.4 then I already have solved all these issues on my earlier thread. Be warned that skype4py was unstable using this technique. I have not tested with dbus yet, please be patient if you want other things supported than the ones mentioned in the first post, I will try to fix most of them in time, as well as make a proper release

I see in your default.py you have a sys.path.append to get the dist-packages directory added to the external python's sys.path. A proper fix in xbmc would prevent this hackery (on my installation dist-packages is in /usr/lib64/python2.6). So here is a patch for xbmc that would fix this properly. I'll be submitting it to the xbmc bug tracker for proper inclusion.

About d-bus, that's good news, although I was hoping we could have a fix on the addon side so we don't need to add even more hacks. Are there any advantages over x11? Is it worth to use it? I was thinking maybe to include all the skype4py module in the addon so I can include the changes you mentioned.

Regarding video support, unfortunately my free time is very limited, so the development is not very fast, but it's moving forward. I also want to make a better gui and integrate the addon with xbmc better (maybe if possible to automatically pause a movie and pop up a answer/decline dialog when there is an incoming call).

I will test these in the weekend, as well as commit some new things, stay tuned...

anwmalos Wrote:Regarding video support, unfortunately my free time is very limited, so the development is not very fast, but it's moving forward. I also want to make a better gui and integrate the addon with xbmc better (maybe if possible to automatically pause a movie and pop up a answer/decline dialog when there is an incoming call).

extrospection Wrote:Wishlist for features (overlapping and on top of your project spec):

Lots of configurable options (e.g. pause media on incoming call or not, mute if music is playing on incoming call or not, option to set "away" or "do not disturb" when watching movies/listening to music and so on)

Video calling is a definite wishlist requirement. Showing both "remote" and local camera would be good

Easy navigation of contact list and call setup: ideally should be possible to do without keyboard/mouse: an easy menu option from main XBMC window leading to a remote control operable contact list would be good

leveraging XBMC OSD notification options? making it really easy to answer or ignore an incoming call

optional: ring on incoming call using a different audio output than main xbmc / call setup: use case is where people have XBMC connected to a receiver or TV but are switched to a different source: if your script could ring on an external speaker, one could switch TV+receiver to XBMC source and answer the call?

Keep up the great work - I am keen to test this when you deem it ready for "public consumption" :-)

I think the options list is pretty resonable but right now, I am not interested in coding them at all . I want to finish with the main features and continue with the "nice to have" features later

About video support, you have to consider that skype4py gives just an interface to control the skype client so I don't think I will be very free to develop it as I wish. I think I will take a fair bit of hacks just to enable proper video support. Considering this I will try to have both cams, altough I think showing only the remote camera gives more tribute to sci-fi movies .

For the same reason, I think it will be a bit hard to control the way skype handles audio, right now I already have my soundcard connected to external amp/speakers so it's not much of a problem. I guess it would be more of a computer setup, like hdmi for xbmc and soundcard for skype, or 2 soundcards etc.

If you wish to try it out, right now it's pretty stable although not very feature rich and it's designed from the ground up to be operated only with a remote control, so if you don't mind compiling xbmc from source it's pretty safe to use it (place/answer audio calls)

New svn version, added some stuff like details window although I have to work on it a little more to make it prettier. Next up, I have to figure how to minimize the annoying skype windows that get in the way, as well as first experiments with video support. Stay tuned!

PS. I'm not very good with graphics. All the graphics are taken from the internet (public domain/open source only) and modified a little to work well on the interface. Anyone who has any artistic talents, you are free to make some new icons/improve on existing ones. If you do, try to keep the look & feel of the windows skype client (more of a guideline than a rule )